Stories

The grand prize winner receives $20,000 in the U.S. Bank Student Scholarship Program, which has been operating for more than a decade

Samuel Sievers was about to board the bus he takes to classes at the University of San Diego when an email came through on his phone telling him he’d won a $20,000 scholarship from U.S. Bank.

“It was pretty incredible,” Sievers said. “I didn’t fully process it until I got to school and had a chance to think about it.”

Sievers is a sophomore majoring in trombone performance and mathematics. The scholarship funds are given directly to the student’s account at the school they attend, and Sievers said he plans to use some of the money he’s saving on tuition payments to buy a professional trombone.

“This will be my first time owning my own trombone, which is something I need,” said Sievers, who plays classical, mariachi and jazz. "Until now, I've always been borrowing trombones from the schools I attended."

The scholarship was one of five, totaling $45,000, awarded in 2023 by the U.S. Bank Student Scholarship Program, a sweepstakes that students can enter by completing in-app financial education modules.

Sievers said he completed a few hundred of the modules, which take less than five minutes each. Entrants who complete at least 50 modules become eligible for a scholarship and those who complete a minimum of 200 modules become eligible for the grand prize.

In addition to being entered into the sweepstakes, students can receive gift cards for completing modules. Sievers said he received more than $125 worth of gift cards for his efforts.

“The modules were good,” he said. “I knew some of the stuff beforehand because my high school taught financial education, but I learned a lot through the modules about cryptocurrencies and buying a house.”

Another winner is Jaiden Elliott, a high school student in San Antonio who received $2,000 and said he is undecided where he will attend college but plans to major in mechanical engineering.

“Both of my parents are engineers and I’ve always liked math and science,” he said. “It aligns with my interests a lot.”

Elliott said he learned about the scholarship sweepstakes while searching for scholarship information online and that he liked the financial literacy component.

“I think it’s important for people, especially kids my age, to know it because it can do a lot for you later on,” he said. “I did 40 or 50 modules and learned a lot.”

The U.S. Bank Student Scholarship Program has been running for more than 10 years.

“Financial literacy is a critical competency at this stage in life when students are trying to gain financial independence,” said Katharine Stofer, who administers the scholarship program.

“In 2023, we partnered with a gamified financial literacy app to meet students where they are at and provide them a learning mechanism that they enjoy,” she said. “It's quite amazing what an incentive like a scholarship can do when trying to get students to learn things like financial education.”

The 2023 scholarship closed on Oct. 30. For a complete list of winners, send an email to financial.education@usbank.com.

Details about the next round in the program will be available March 1 on the U.S. Bank Student Scholarship Program website.